Friday, July 11, 2008

Poll Question 1: Best American Soccer Player

So as things have been going slow lately for the Boski I thought I would pose a question that would open up some debate. Who is the best American soccer player? Now the criteria to consider is obviously playing ability, attitude, and really what they have done to help progress American soccer. I'll list a few and feel free to inject your opinion or anyone else who I might have left out. A few that come to mind:

John Harkes
Alexi Lalas
Eric Wynalda
Eddie Pope
Freddie Adu
Mia Hamm
Briana Scurry
Cobi Jones
Tab Ramos
Brian McBride
Kasey Keller
Brad Friedel
etc.

To me it is a tough Choice, I would say Brian McBride as he has done the best in showing the world that Americans can play. He has done so for Country and in the English Premiere league. All of our goalkeepers are incredible and I would have to say the US produces some of the very best. Off the fields would that be Alexi? He certainly was not a good player, but his appearance made him a star and he has done things good after he has retired (including bringing Becks to us as he is now the GM of the Galaxy). So I ask you bloggers...what say ye?

*note* Boski will be posting the OGL results on this page...could this lead to the resurgence of Team Initial?? Stay tuned boys and girls.

13 comments:

Poorman said...

Wynalda / Cobi / Lalas

those I would say are the only popular players, within the US. mcbride is probably better, but I doubt more than 1% of the US population could tell you what English team he plays for (or that he even plays in England)

Additional names to the list: (mostly year 1 MLS superstars)
Jeff Agoos
Marcelo Balboa (pwnage)
Rhett Hardy
Roy Lassiter (if you played MLS Sim, you know his ability)
Jason "the tank" Kreis
Preki
Bo Ashoni
Steve Jolley

As for the most talented US Soccer Talent...the only player that has been Professional at both Soccer and another MAJOR sport....


****Stu Holden****

Staboski said...

man I forgot about goos...wow. and year Roy Lassiter got to include him. It will be interesting to see how McBride does in the MLS now with Toronto.

booncakes said...

i don't see how you don't have donovan on there. i know he's douche-like but he is our best player (right now).

i think adu will be our future, but he is only 18 or whatever so he can't be considered yet.

mia hamm is the most known imo, but she can't be considered b/c the title is 'best', and 16 year old boys are better than her.

booncakes said...

i know i will get flamed, so here are some donovan stats to back up my answer:
1)All time leading scorer for the US National Team with 36 goals
2)Only player in Us history with 4 US National team player of the year awards
3)1st man to be names US soccer player of the year 2 years in a row (thats a different award)
3)He won the Golden Ball at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championships as best player.
4)named Best Young Player for the 2002 World Cup.
5) Landon became the United States' all-time assist leader with 23
6) reached 100 caps at the age of 26

**Another player that no one mentioned, who may have had the best skill but injuries semi-plagued his career is Claudio Reyna.

Staboski said...

I understand he has won awards, but I think Donovan is probably the worlds most overrated player. I forgot about Reyna, good call on that one.

booncakes said...

stats don't lie Boz. #1 all time goals, #1 all time assists

Anonymous said...

but does he have heart

term said...

extremely debatable topic. i'd say keller or friedel. i mean saying that US produces unreal keepers and not considering them for the best players just isn't fair.

donovan is semi good, but is way too cocky. he acts like he is the shit every time i ever see him play. awards don't mean much due to the politics behind them. donovan is just a young face that people can relate too who scores a lot. now he wins awards.

also realize that his scoring numbers can be viewed as skewed. the US has opportunities now which we simply didn't have in the early-mid 90's when wynalda was around. these opportunities mostly include playing a large number of friendlies against top notch opponents, as well as participating in some asian tours. unless these kind of games were just not publicized in the early 90's, the US has many more games now, giving donovan more exposure and more opportunities to score (and caps).

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
booncakes said...

Cobi Jones = 164 caps - 15 goals, 22 assists
Eric Wynalda = 106 caps - 34 goals, 16 assists
Donovan = 101 caps - 36 goals, 30 assists
McBride = 90 caps - 30 goals, 10 assists

Plus, Donovan is just getting to the prime of his career. And what's cockiness have to do with US's best player? Maybe it's your opinion that is skewed b/c you just don't like Donovan...

Poorman said...

meola is the best goalie in US history

Poorman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Poorman said...

CAN EVERYONE PLEASE GO VISIT THIS WEBPAGE THAT I JUST DUG UP...

www.freewebs.com/teamarnold

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